Republican Richard Nugent is a rock-solid fiscal conservative who is known for his bill to allow members of Congress to opt out of the federal pension system. He had an easy path to the House – he was part of a succession deal with retiring GOP Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite in 2010 – and an even easier path to reelection. His Democratic opponent was a perennial candidate who once sat atop a flagpole for 439 days. Read More

Republican Richard Nugent is a rock-solid fiscal conservative who is known for his bill to allow members of Congress to opt out of the federal pension system. He had an easy path to the House – he was part of a succession deal with retiring GOP Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite in 2010 – and an even easier path to reelection. His Democratic opponent was a perennial candidate who once sat atop a flagpole for 439 days.

Nugent was born in Evergreen Park, Ill., a Chicago suburb, the youngest of three children. His father worked in a steel mill and his mother was a homemaker. After high school, Nugent served in the Illinois Air National Guard for six years and became a police officer, working his way up to sergeant in the Romeoville, Ill., police department. He adopted Florida as his home after attending Saint Leo University, a Catholic liberal arts college in St. Leo, Fla. He went on to earn a master’s degree in public administration from Troy State University. Nugent joined the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office in 1984; he was elected to his first term as sheriff in 2000, and was reelected in 2004 and 2008. He and his wife, Wendy Nugent, have two sons in the Army and a third in the Army Reserve.

Over the years, Nugent presided over a drop in violent crime and imposed new fiscal constraints. His office took control of operations of the Hernando County Jail, which had been run by the private Corrections Corporation of America and had been criticized for being soft on prisoners. Nugent told the St. Petersburg Times, “There’s a new sheriff in town. It’s not going to be a relaxed, Club Med atmosphere.” He canceled weekly “pizza nights” and other advantages enjoyed by prisoners and returned $2 million in unspent funds to the county in 2009.

In April 2010, Brown-Waite announced she would not seek reelection to a fifth term because of health problems. She made the announcement on candidate filing day in Florida, which allowed Nugent to file the necessary legal papers by the deadline. Brown-Waite also issued a statement strongly endorsing Nugent. The arrangement sparked bitter complaints from other Republicans who had been waiting for the opportunity to run for a House seat. Public Service Commission Chair Nancy Argenziano and state Sen. Mike Fasano both said they might have run. Nugent did draw a primary challenge from Jason Sager, a former audiovisual technician who was backed by tea party activists. But the upstart campaign never gained traction, and Nugent won the August 24 primary, 62% to 38%.

In the general election, he faced Democrat Jim Piccillo, a 36-year-old business consultant and a former Republican, who had an uphill battle in the GOP-tilting district. Piccillo cast himself as a moderate and a pragmatist who would work to reduce federal spending and regulation on businesses. Piccillo also reprised the issue of Nugent’s anointment by Brown-Waite and criticized him for using a picture of his sheriff’s badge on his campaign website. For his part, Nugent proposed a freeze in government spending and campaigned against the Democrats’ $787 billion economic stimulus bill. He portrayed Piccillo in a mailing as the “hand-picked candidate” of liberal House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, prompting Piccillo to call him a “flat out liar.” Nugent outraised his opponent in this relatively low-budget affair, $518,000 to $147,000, and won easily, 67% to 33%.

In the House, Nugent took seats on the House Administration and Rules committees, positions given to leadership loyalists. He wasn’t as loudly confrontational as many of his fellow GOP freshmen, but just as conservative. His first bill in March 2011 allowed members to opt out of their congressional pensions, as well as the federal match to their deferred compensation plan. Though the measure drew considerable publicity, it attracted just three cosponsors and did not move. Nugent promised to continue to pursue it, calling it “the right thing to do.” He introduced a subsequent bill requiring federally elected officials to place their stocks, bonds, and other forms of assets in a blind trust. Nugent had slightly better luck with adding a provision to the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill permitting soldiers who served before Sept. 11, 2001 to qualify for the Army’s Combat Action Badge, which was established in 2005 to honor members of units who would not normally qualify for other decorations. It made it into the House version, but the Senate dropped it. Nugent reintroduced the bill in January 2013.

In post-2010-census redistricting, Nugent’s fast-growing district lost much of Pasco County, but remained strongly GOP territory. His Democratic opponent was David Werder, who had run multiple times for office, usually as a write-in candidate. He called himself “the flagpole sitter” in recognition of his record-setting feat in Clearwater in the 1980s to protest high gasoline prices. He raised no money, and Nugent won with 65% of the vote.

Rich Nugent Votes and Bills

National Journal’s rating system is an objective method of analyzing voting.
The liberal score means that the lawmaker’s votes were more liberal than that percentage of his colleagues’ votes.
The conservative score means his votes were more conservative than that percentage of his colleagues’ votes.
The composite score is an average of a lawmaker’s six issue-based scores.
See all NJ Voting

More Liberal

More Conservative

2013

2012

2011

Economic

21
(L) :
77 (C)

38
(L) :
60 (C)

27
(L) :
71 (C)

Social

16
(L) :
74 (C)

9
(L) :
86 (C)

-
(L) :
83 (C)

Foreign

48
(L) :
51 (C)

20
(L) :
73 (C)

32
(L) :
63 (C)

Composite

30.5
(L) : 69.5 (C)

24.7
(L) : 75.3 (C)

23.7
(L) : 76.3 (C)

Interest Group Ratings

The vote ratings by 10 special interest groups provide insight into a lawmaker’s general ideology and the degree to which he or she agrees with the group’s point of view.
Two organizations provide just one combined rating for 2011 and 2012, the two sessions of the 112th Congress. They are the ACLU and the ITIC.
About the interest groups.

The key votes show how a member of Congress voted on the major bills of the year.
N indicates a "no" vote; Y a "yes" vote. If a member voted "present" or was absent, the bill caption is not shown.
For a complete description of the bills included in key votes, see the Almanac's Guide to Usage.

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